


Caught and Released

by magicianlogician12



Series: Heart of Steel [14]
Category: Fallout 4
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-26
Updated: 2016-10-26
Packaged: 2018-08-27 04:32:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,832
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8387296
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/magicianlogician12/pseuds/magicianlogician12
Summary: After being captured by raiders while on a mission, Tabi and Haylen work to escape before they outlive their usefulness.





	

Haylen watched rainwater slowly drip from a leaking pipe in the ceiling. Abandoned factories were sometimes adapted for human occupation, and if Haylen had a bit more time and a few less pressing concerns, she might be intrigued to see how else it had been adjusted.

Now, though, between the raiders prowling around her and the pain from the bandages around her upper right arm and lower left leg, she didn’t have room to focus on anything else.

It happened quickly and unexpectedly, as most ambushes did. Haylen, Tabi, and a few other scribes had been departing on a vertibird for the Prydwen, and then they were supposed to be leaving on an escort mission. The missile had come out of nowhere as the vertibird was about to leave the Cambridge area, and while the pilot had made a valiant attempt to get the craft under control, in the end, it was more of a controlled crash than anything else.

Raider activity _had_  been getting more intense in the area, and a few knights at the Cambridge station had scouted around town before the vertibird departed, but it was clear the raiders were out for the Brotherhood’s blood, probably angry that they’d moved into a choice piece of real estate and wanted to kick them out. Haylen didn’t particularly care at the moment.

Those who survived the crash were swarmed and captured before Tabi or any of the senior scribes could recover–Haylen remembered seeing Tabi pulled by force out of her power armor, since there was no way the raiders would’ve let her keep it–and they’d been dragged here. After that, the prisoners had been separated. Haylen was with two other scribes. The senior scribes–as well as Tabi–had been taken elsewhere.

Haylen tried not to think the worst, but captives of anyone in the Commonwealth tended not to have very long lifespans. At the very least, their wounds had been bound, which meant the raiders _wanted_ them alive. Again, it raised the question why.

“We’re going to die.” one of the other scribes whispered, shaky and terrified.

Haylen swallowed. “We’re not.” she said, unsure who she was trying to convince. “They want us alive for some reason. They tried to bind our wounds.”

When she didn’t receive a response, Haylen looked around the room they were being held in. There wasn’t much by way of resources for escape–even if there were, Haylen’s hands were bound too tightly to move. Two raiders patrolled a short distance away, on the metal walkways. Both were armed. Haylen had a pistol on her when the vertibird went down, but the raiders had stripped them of their weapons right after the crash.

Haylen sighed and watched the steady drip of rainwater from the leaking pipe. _Nothing to do but wait._

* * *

Tabi awoke with her cheek pressed to cold stone.

She was alone, which was a relief–better that than a raider watching her–but her hands were tied securely at the small of her back with rough rope, and she ached at several points on her body. A cut on her cheek had dried blood crusted around the edge from when she’d tried to fight the raiders who threw her in here.

They hadn’t killed her, though. A bonus, all things considered.

Her knee ached from their vertibird’s crash, and every muscle in her back and arms was sore and pulled, but all in all, Tabi was mostly intact. She remembered that after the crash, they’d been captured by raiders–five of them had held Tabi’s power armor immobile before she recovered and had dragged her from it by force, the bastards–and taken here. A factory not too far outside of Cambridge.

Tabi strongly doubted this was a random attack. Raiders nearby the police station had gotten more bold in recent weeks, and this was by far their most daring plot–bringing down the vertibird carrying the Brotherhood’s Sentinel and several scribes–but she also doubted this attack was _just_  about her. She was a valuable target, but not valuable enough to be singled out like this.

First things first: she had to get out of here. She had to find Haylen and the rest of the scribes. _Then_  she could make these raiders pay for thinking that capturing her was a good idea.

Struggling against her bonds proved futile; the knots were too tight. Laying on her stomach, Tabi was in a vulnerable position, and her ribs ached, but trying to roll over onto her back wouldn’t help her much except by giving her a new vantage point from which to take in the darkened room that was clearly her prison. Even letting her eyes adjust had revealed little about it.

A door–metal, thin, flimsy–slammed open, bringing light in a painful intensity, and Tabi instinctively closed her eyes as the silhouette of a raider appeared.

“Don’t do nothing stupid, all right?” he said, yanking at Tabi’s wrists until she stood with a wince. “Just movin’ you for, uh… _questioning_.”

So they wanted information. Tabi didn’t know what kind of Brotherhood intel would possibly be valuable to them, but she did know that if she said anything, their life expectancy would drop to nothing. They’d have whatever they wanted.

Tabi felt the cool metal of a knife pressed against the small of her back as they walked. Her feet on the metal walkway were near-silent, and ambient noise from the dilapidated factory gave the place a very haunted-house vibe. Tabi flexed her hands experimentally. Maybe, if she moved quickly enough…

Well, it wasn’t like she had any better ideas. Tabi stopped suddenly, and before the raider could even ask what the hell she thought she was doing, Tabi raised one foot and brought it down, _hard_ , on the raider’s foot nearest her. He yelped, and the knife slipped, but the only way Tabi could catch it was by the blade–it left a new cut across the inside of her hand with a hiss of pain.

Fumbling with the blade, Tabi barely managed to get it through her rope bonds before the raider recovered, leveling a pipe rifle at her chest. Tossing the knife to the side, Tabi made a leaping tackle onto the raider, who fell easily under her height and weight. More dedicated workouts since joining the Brotherhood months and months ago meant Tabi had put on some extra weight in lean muscle, and she used every ounce of it in a solid punch to the raider’s jaw.

Her knuckles were bruised at the very least, but Tabi jumped off the dazed raider, snatched his rifle, and killed him before he recovered. She looked around, heard the sounds of other raiders coming to investigate the commotion. Tabi sighed.

“Right.” she said aloud, to no one in particular. She was going to need a better weapon for this.

* * *

Haylen’s first indicator that something was wrong was their two raider guards stiffening before taking off down the metal walkways.

They’d been on fairly steady patrols for a while, with minimal complaining to one another when they crossed paths, but this was new. Haylen shuffled herself over to where another scribe sat, her hands tied behind her back as well. “Come on, help me try to untie this.”

“Without being able to see it?” the other scribe demanded incredulously.

“This is the only chance we’re getting.” Haylen whispered furtively in response, casting a look over where their two guards had vanished. “We’ve got to hurry.”

Pulling at the knots seemed fruitless at first. Haylen was about to write the idea off and admit they’d need a knife to get through it when the other scribe gasped. “I think I got something loose on your knot.”

Haylen pulled at her wrists experimentally and found the rope loosened, but she didn’t know if it was enough to pull free. Straining at the bonds, Haylen winced and felt the rope bite into her wrists, but suddenly, with a final tug of rope burn, the binding was gone. Rubbing her wrists for a few seconds to bring feeling back into them, Haylen tried to pull at the knots keeping the other scribes helpless.

One of them was unconscious from his injuries. Haylen pursed her lips and debated what to do. She could get the rope off, but moving him was going to be a challenge.

Before she could decide, the two raiders who’d been guarding them before came stampeding back down the metal walkway. “Hey!” one of them yelled, seeing the scribes free, and Haylen cast about for a weapon, _any_  weapon, she might be able to use.

A gunshot rang out, and one of the raiders fell. His friend paused, turned, and shortly after met the same fate. Haylen held her breath.

Out of the darkness, holding a pipe rifle on one shoulder and with a cut on her cheek, came Tabi.

“Sorry I’m late.” Tabi quipped as she approached. The sounds of gunfire continued to echo back from where she came.

“What’s going on?” Haylen asked as Tabi cut the remaining rope bonds with a knife.

“I got free, but I guess someone at Cambridge saw our bird go down and managed to scramble a rescue force.” Tabi leaned down so she was at Haylen’s level; standing took slightly more energy than Haylen could summon right at the moment. “It took them a little time to figure out exactly where we’d been taken. Thus, the delay.”

“Are you okay?” Haylen reached one hand up and gingerly touched the cut on Tabi’s cheek.

“I’ll live.” she replied dryly. “Though I could use a massage and a week’s worth of sleep.” making her own cursory inspection, Tabi zeroed in on the bandages on Haylen’s arm and leg. Slipping her rifle over both shoulders more securely, Tabi leaned down and was about to pick Haylen up when the scribe saw a flash of something like a scope’s lens on the overhang.

“Duck!” Haylen yanked Tabi down by the collar of her shirt even as she said it, and another gunshot rang out from somewhere nearby; a raider with a hastily-cobbled together pipe sniper rifle fell from his perch, and two knights in full power armor appeared.

“Sentinel,” one of them reported, “we’ve found the rest of the survivors from the crash and swept the factory. We’re clearing out the rest of the raiders now.”

“Good.” Tabi replied, turning to address the knights. “Get a vertibird out here for the wounded. We should get them back to the Prydwen for medical attention.” and, leaning back down, Tabi picked Haylen up in both arms.

“I can walk.” Haylen protested, but it had little conviction; her leg was _really_  starting to hurt.

“I’ve got you.” Tabi said in response, in a voice that brooked no argument and stated that Tabi would very well carry Haylen through hell itself if the need arose. “Just relax, okay? I’ve got you.”


End file.
